Capítulo 49: Chapter 49
After Alvar's grandparents had come home last night they had found Alvar sitting in his grandpa's chair, slightly snoring while the warm bonfire had burned mostly down until only the glimmering embers remained.
Smiling down at their grandson the duo woke the slightly snoring teen up who at first wasn't sure where he was until he spotted his grandparents grinning down at him. With an embarrassed expression on his face Alvar cleared his throat shortly after which he welcomed his still grinning grandparents back home.
"Where have you been? I've been here since, err, what time is it again?" Alvar asked to which his grandparents chuckled slightly in amusement.
"It's around sundown, Alvar. And the reason we've been out was to pick something up. Something we ordered a few weeks ago." His grandmother answered while both of them sat down opposite of Alvar, the glimmering bonfire in their back casting their faces into light shadows.
Now slightly curious Alvar couldn't help himself but to inquire further. "And what did you order? A new set of clothes or something?"
In response both of his grandparents shook their heads until his grandfather simply said: "Easiest to just show you." After which the old man stood up and walked over to the kitchen table on which a long wooden case laid but Alvar could still not make out what may be inside of it. He would still have to wait and see.
Coming back over to the rest of the family Alvar's grandfather sat back down on the chair next to his wife and laid the case on his knees while his fingers danced on its surface as if he were playing a piano, not that the old man could for that matter…
"What's in it? Come on, grandpa! You're killing me here!" Alvar cried out in impatience as he could clearly feel the excitement in the air and instinctively knew that what ever it was inside that case was meant for himself.
"Hehehe, take a look for yourself, lad! We've spent quite a lot of thought on it and hope you like it just as much as we do…" Alvar's grandpa said and with those words handed the case over into Alvar's already waiting arms.
Upon perceiving the weight of the item inside the case Alvar's eyes sparkled in excitement as he already had a faint idea at what the item could be. Carefully putting the case down on his knees Alvar let his right hand glide over the smooth wooden case, marvelling at its texture, until he couldn't wait anymore and unhooked the lock, unsealing the item from within.
At the sight of the item inside the case Alvar's eyes grew wide causing him to shortly look up from the box, as if to silently confirm with his grandparents that they indeed had gotten the item for him and not for themselves, and after receiving happy nods from the both of them grasped the beauty inside the case with his left hand.
The sword inside the box was of a simple design. Its sheath was of a dark brown colour, possibly made of some wood similar to mahogany or something. Its form was slightly curved at the end, telling Alvar that the sword on the inside was not a complete straight sword. And yet it was not as curved as most curved swords were. The beginning was straight, only curving itself at the last fifth, namely the tip and a bit below that. Furthermore, the sword didn't seem to grow all that thin at the end but Alvar would have to confirm that once he held the sword itself in his hands.
Letting his right hand glide upwards from the beautiful sheath towards the handle, Alvar grasped the leather bound handle firmly at its top with enough space below it to fit his second hand down below it, while his left hand grasped the sheath and under seemingly no effort Alvar freed the beginning of the swords blade free of its sheath.
What greeted his eyes was the finally polished blade of his sword, only having one edge, in which Alvar's eyes reflected themselves under the dim light of the glimmering embers.
"Go on, pull it out!" Alvar's grandfather said with a smirk at Alvar's ensnared expression, completely captivated by the beauty of the sword in his hands.
Standing up with while putting the case to the side carefully Alvar finally had the chance to free his sword completely and he did so without hesitation.
Singing a song of its own at finally regaining its freedom the high sound of the blade rubbing against the sheath sounded once inside the otherwise silent house until Alvar held the sword in all its forged glory in his hands.
The sword was of an impressive length but could still be wielded with one hand if the user was experienced enough. Though its main purpose laid in its two handed wielding, obvious by the handle that had room for two hands.
"We debated long and hard whether we should get you a normal straight sword, mainly used with one hand but after we talked with Sjorn he advised us to go for a two hander instead with the possibility of still wielding it with one hand. We agreed when we saw the merit in a two hander as you will have to battle against enemies of much greater size than humanoids who would only laugh in your face if struck by a one hander. A two hander on the other hand could incapacitate even the biggest of foes, within limits of course." Alvar's grandfather said while his grandmother had a happy yet sad expression on her face as she was watching Alvar standing there with a sword in his hand, already knowing that said sword won't forever stay clean…
"It is a beautiful sword. Thank you, really. I don't know what to say…" Alvar spoke to his grandparents while sheathing his blade once again.
His grandparents only chuckled at his words until his grandfather spoke up once again: "You don't have to say anything. The only thing I want is that you'll promise us something. Promise us that you will survive. No matter the cost!"
At his grandfather's words the mood in the room swiftly gained a suffocating quality while Alvar let his grandfather's request run through his mind, not liking the implications even the tiniest bit, but when he looked up from his sword and gazed into his grandparents faces Alvar could only nod in muted reply as the pleading their faces showed said more than words ever could…
"I promise…" Alvar croaked out which was followed by his grandparents smiling happily. Engulfing their grandson in a joined hug all three of them hung after their own thoughts for a few minutes until Alvar's grandmother, with slightly wet eyes, separated first and walked over into the kitchen to prepare the dinner for the night. Alvar's grandfather followed and after patting Alvar softly on the shoulder once sat back down in his personal chair where he began to fill himself a horn of mead.
Alvar meanwhile remained standing there in the middle of the room for a minute longer, his mind running a hundred kilometres a second while he tried to uncover the hidden message behind his grandparents words, as he couldn't help but connect a few dots between their conversation tonight and his teachers words, but soon gave up with a sigh and sat back down, his sword never leaving his grasp for even a second.
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Later that night Alvar was restlessly turning from left to right on his bed as he found it difficult to sink into the warm embrace of sleep. After trying for another few minutes Alvar gave up and with a sigh swung his legs over the beds edge where he sat for a few seconds while his eyes rested on the sword that was laying on his table.
He hadn't been able to forget his grandparents words the whole evening and now that even sleep avoided him he had enough of the whole situation and decided he needed to blow of some steam so that he could maybe get at least a couple hours of sleep.
Standing up Alvar walked over to his closet, grabbed himself some training clothes and put them on under his training weights that had become damn heavy over the last few months, after which Alvar walked over to his new sword and left his room, sword in one hand and his fur mantle in the other.
Stepping out of his house Alvar took in a breath of the fresh winter air and felt the cool oxygen fill his lungs like smoke for a second, marvelling at the feeling all the while, after which he began his walk over to the training grounds.
After a few minutes Alvar arrived there and took in the familiar scenery once before he moved over to where he usually practised with Sjorn. Discarding his thick fur mantle Alvar shivered in the cold for a second until he began to move his body so he would cool out completely.
He started with some exercises to just get his blood pumping, namely running with training gear and his sword in his hand while occasionally doing push ups or burpi's as Sjorn called them due to the exercise causing quite a few vomit filled burps amongst the recruits every once in a while.
After he had warmed up sufficiently Alvar began to go through some motions with his new sword to get some feeling for the reach and structure of his new weapon.
He soon came to love the feeling of the sharp blade cutting effortlessly through the air while the sharp edge shimmered ominously in the moonlight of the night.
His deadly dance had soon driven sweat onto Alvar's forehead while the boy was cutting down imaginary enemy after enemy, once in a while jumping or rolling to avoid an incoming slash until he stood face to face with the wooden dummy whom he soon badgered with slashes that left deep gashes on the dummy due to the growing intensity of the passive mana manipulation that Alvar was practising for a while now, which imbued and strengthened his blade with a sharp and protective shell which occasionally flickered orange along his blade.
The stronger his mana would grow the more prominent the colouration of his mana would grow as well until it may even change entirely once he learned about the mana outside of his body which was when he would begin to formulate his own profession and truly become a master of his art.
So absorbed was he in his dance that Alvar only barely perceived someone appear behind him out of the blue and simply out of reflex caused him to turn around and bring his blade down on the person that had snuck up on him.
Luckily Alvar managed to stop himself from cutting the person down in the last second due to his good control while the person, now sitting on his butt with a cold sweat running down their forehead, couldn't help but breath out in relieve.
"Remind me to never sneak up on you while practising, hehehe" Veli said while Alvar equally dropped down on his ass in relieve. He really needed to train his awareness more.
'At least I remained in control of my emotions…' Alvar thought to himself after which he stood up and walked over to Veli whom he offered a hand which the lad swiftly took and with Alvar's help lifted himself up off the ground.
"So? What are you doing here so late at night?" Veli asked Alvar who could only roll his eyes in exasperation. Leave it to Veli to just skip along and completely forget that you were nearly cut in half just a second ago.
"Got a sword as a present and since I couldn't sleep decided to come train some. And you? Had another wet-dream of your honey, what's-her-name-again?" Alvar asked with a grin on his face which earned him a fist to the shoulder in reply.
"No you jackass! If I had I wouldn't have looked YOU up now, had I?" Veli replied instead while grinning at Alvar who was already marching back to the dummy where he had dropped his fur mantle which he promptly threw over his shoulders in order not to cool out.
"Who could possibly resist my roguish charms? Admit it, you are having the hots for me. I should have seen it coming… What should I do now? Oh woe is me…" Alvar replied while he broke out in laughter that echoed through the silent night with Veli gnashing his teeth in frustration at the moron that was his friend.
"Isn't there a practise sword somewhere so I can beat some sense into your roguish ass?" Veli said with a mumble while looking around for a pair of practise swords until he found some which he grabbed and threw one over to Alvar who now had a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear.
"So my charming suitor is in need of a nice beating now, is he? Can't say I'm against that idea, hahaha" Alvar said after catching the practise sword and swinging it a few times from left to right.
"I'll show you a charming suitor you jack ass!" Veli replied and ran at Alvar like a bull stung by a bee. Though Veli's energy soon left him when he received the beating of his life time. At least he had tried…
None the less laughter and outcries of pain were the only things that could be heard that night from the direction of the training grounds, making quite a few animals wonder what nutjob was disturbing this beautiful night with their noise until the sun began to rise over the horizon and all that had either hunted or fought that night finally came to pause and fell into a deep slumber, wherever they currently may be...
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
bobbarker12
bobbarker12 That chapter was fun to write and probably the longest I've written so far^^
Hope you enjoyed it :-)
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Claymore_(Final_Fantasy_XII)?file=Claymore-ffxii.png
A picture of the sword that Alvar received which is my favorite sword ever depicted in a video game^^
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